Homeowner Forecloses On Bank Of America After Illegal Foreclosure By Bank Backfires

Yes, the title of this article is correct. After the North Carolina based Bank of America foreclosure procedure backfired, the homeowner was able to foreclose on the bank!

Bank Of America Foreclosure Gone Wrong

According to a story on Digtriad.com, the Bank Of America foreclosure was filed against the home of a couple who didn’t even have a mortgage. This is another reason why becoming a cosigner on a loan is so risky (lenders make terrible mistakes all the time)! They owned their home outright! The couple said they paid cash for the house:

The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn’t owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay.

What I want to know, is what in the world make BOA believe that the couple owed them money on this home, when they never even had a mortgage (this is the reason why I am trying to pay off debt)! It’s really bad when buying a home with cash is as risky as investing in Brazil!

Since it was the bank that filed this wrongful foreclosure, they were ordered by the judge to pay the legal fees of the homeowners.

I guess you’re wondering how did it go from BOA owing them a few thousand dollars, to the homeowners being able to foreclose on the bank!

Bank Of America Foreclosure In Reverse

From this point on, the story looks identical to Bank of America foreclosure proceedings, except now the bank is the one who owes a debt:

After more than 5 months of the judge’s ruling, the bank still hadn’t paid the legal fees…”They’ve ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, ” attorney Todd Allen told CBS.

So, now the bank is the one who is late paying a debt, and refuses to even work with the homeowner! Well, what do you do when someone (or some company) legally owes you money, refuses to pay, refuses to speak to you, and owns property? You seize their assets!

Sheriff’s deputies, movers, and the Nyergers’ attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller’s drawers.

This had to be an amazing scene. Could you imagine seeing all of the bank’s cash (damaged money and all), furniture, equipment, and workers all sitting out on the lawn? Fortunately, it didn’t have to go that far; although, this should have been settled months ago!

The wrongful Bank of America foreclosure is what caused this mess in the first place, and now they don’t want to pay the homeowner what they rightfully deserve!

Here is how this hilarious situation ended:

After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees.

I’m sure they have to deal with a lot of people who owe them hundreds of thousands of dollars, but still fight against the foreclosure process (as if they did nothing wrong); but that wasn’t the case here! They should have written out this check as soon as the judge ordered them to pay the homeowner’s legal fees!

Comments

I don’t disagree at all with your position vis a vis BOA’s commission of fraud upon it’s mortgage customers facing foreclosure.
However, I would like to alert you and your readers to the OPPOSITE situation whereby they FAIL to protect the integrity of neighborhoods by REFUSING TO TAKE OTHERWISE LEGITIMATE FORECLOSURE ACTION THEREBY PROTECTING NEIGHBORING PROPERTY OWNERS AND THEIR OWN SHAREHOLDERS!
The following is the essence of an email (names/locale removed) sent to BOA “customer relations” folks identified in this wiki post:http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_phone_number_of_Bank_of_America_corporate_offices_in_Charlotte_NC
“The reason for this email is to express the consummate frustration that we have been experiencing for one year now as a result of your bank’s consistent refusal to proceed with an entirely warranted and justified foreclosure of a home. We just completed a call to the law firm representing your bank after noticing that this property suddenly disappeared from their list of properties to be auctioned.

Noticing that these debtors had returned to this property in July 2012, after leaving it a year earlier, we called both the local police, searched county records, and obtained whatever information available regarding this property’s status.

It is clear that the buyers of this home fell delinquent in their mortgage payments sometime in 2010 and, in 2011, left the home completely. Having owned our home for 12 years as a part-time resident who visits often, we noted the increasingly poor condition of this home and its unkempt yard. Clearly, these are residents who cannot, or will not, respect either their legal/financial obligations or the integrity of the neighboring properties.

These residents returned in the heat of the summer of 2012 without ensuring that the premises had running water or air conditioning. If not for our efforts with local and state officials where we advocated that they cite this home as uninhabitable, the returning residents would not have paid an outstanding water bill and provided running water to the home. They were using pool water, which had not been filtered/treated for at least a year, to flush their toilets. Because of a serious mosquito problem in the area, the Town had to treat the community with pesticides. We were concerned that the untreated pool was a potential health hazard for West Nile virus and alerted the county accordingly.

We became aware that BOA secured the winterization of this home in 2011 after the default of these property owners on their mortgage. This action must have been taken to protect what the BOA viewed as their legal ownership of these premises. Why then, after the property was vacated by the property owners of record, does BOA continue to treat the occupants as the legal owners?
We are also aware of BOA’s forgiveness of the second, or subordinate, loan that it made to this property owner in the amount of approximately $100,000. As the total amount loaned to these delinquent debtors totaled roughly the sales price, we estimate that at least $500,000.00 remains due BOA. Considering the interest that has accumulated in the ensuing three years, we imagine that a good deal more is left owing.

Due to the significant fall in home values, and especially in light of the deplorable condition in which this home now finds itself, its market value would approximate one half of the outstanding loan amount.

It is clear to us, now more familiar with the “main breadwinners” work record that he appears to have great difficulty finding work and lost his job with the BOA shortly after purchasing this home. His attempts to support a family of five on whatever limited employment is available to him in this remote, seasonal area seem inadequate.

BOA’s hopes of ever securing any responsible payment of the amounts owed it are slim, if they exist at all; and this latest report we received of an attempt to “work out” the loan is ludicrous, if not exceptionally and personally damaging to us as neighbors in this unfortunate situation.

Additionally, the eldest daughter in this family is in frequent trouble with local law enforcement and is, in fact, in court today answering two drug-related charges.

It is clearly false economy for the BOA to believe that the correct remedy for this problem is to wait for an epiphany that will turn these debtors into responsible borrowers or good neighbors. A better approach would be to conduct the auction of this property as scheduled and allow a competent borrower to purchase and rehabilitate the same. We certainly feel that BOA stockholders would appreciate this latter approach as well.
It is perplexing, too, why some hard-working individuals trying to care for and support their homes in this and other communities and who truly suffered hardships for which they were not responsible, were displaced from their homes by BOA in short periods of time and without the same opportunities granted these homeowners. We’re sure these BOA customers would appreciate an explanation for the disparate treatment evidenced here.”

The homeowners had every right to foreclose on the bank, and I’m very pleased that they took it this far. It’s upsetting that the bank took so long to cut a check that, more than likely, affected them very little. I hope they charged interest, and a fine for the late payment! This couple sounds like they’re very wise investors, and very financially responsible. Good for them! Can you imagine being another customer at BOA that day and watching all of this take place?